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Waste not, want not: City IT hubs curbed wastage long before govt missive

April 13, 2017

— Pune Mirror

Pune

Software companies have put in place initiatives to reduce leftovers; feel govt's instructions to regulate portions in restaurants would hardly serve any good
Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's verbal missive on Tuesday to regulate portions served in restaurants—before a quick clarification that it was just a way to stem food wastage and imbibe a "moral atmosphere" where eateries would take the onus upon themselves—prompted Mirror to tour the canteens of software companies across the city on Wednesday. And what we found was that the common citizen was doing far more to reduce wastage on one's own accord than the government would like to believe.

These IT companies have already been doing their bit to reduce the amount of food wasted individually from their cafeterias. Most of the companies such as Cybage in Kalyani Nagar have been running this initiative for almost two years now, and most of them feel that the government implementing a portion regulation might not help at all.

Elson Pimenta, human resource (HR) head of Cybage, shared to Mirror, "When we started with the signboard system, our figures were in three digits, almost close to 150 kg a day. Old habits die hard and yet, over the last two years, we have managed to bring this down to 42 kg a day, which is what was wasted on Wednesday. We are extremely proud of this transition and hope for the numbers to reduce further."

Apart from this, the Cybage management has even issued orders to the contractors who run the cafeteria, saying they should serve the employees small portions. The employees, in turn, have been asked to order two to three portions if needed, but to ensure that the wastage is minimal. Cybage also has a tie-up with some of the local NGOs, which come and collect food that can be distributed among the poor and lesser privileged, so as to feed more people and get the figures even lower.

About Cybage

Cybage Software Pvt. Ltd. is a technology consulting organization specializing in outsourced product engineering services. As a leader in the technology and product engineering space, Cybage works with some of the world's best Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). Our solutions are focused on modern technologies, and are enabled by a scientific, data driven system called the DecisionMines™ for Digital Excellence. This unique model de-risks our approach, provides better predictability, and ensures a better value per unit cost to our clients.